Railnews has kicked off its new on line supplement entitled Railnews Focus.

It contains a glowing account of the celebrations that Sir William McAlpine held to mark the 50 years he has lived in his agreeable stately pile at Fawley Hill, which also includes a one mile standard gauge railway.

Sir Bill is, of course, the Chairman of Railnews Limited. So good to see that the editorial team is already very clearly focused on meeting the needs of key stakeholders!

No matter.

The real meat is in the editorial, which does a manful and very moving job of analysing the Potter’s Bar Inquest proceedings – certainly good enough to cause consternation in the dead tree industry rags.

Focus is penned by Sim Harris, an ex-BBC man who keeps his ear very close to the ground.

Setting aside the curious launch timing – bang in the middle of the quietest week of the silly season when no-one of any consequence was at their desks, the new ePublication is a bid by Railnews for a new editorial beat.

Ever since it was conceived as the heir and successor to the old regional BR staff magazines it has stuck solidly to its blue collar audience. Now they are going after decision makers, a market targeted not wholly successfully by the erstwhile Rail Manager On Line.

But with only a small amount of lavish corporate advertising to go round in these straightened times, and great uncertainty about who our real decision makers actually are, it will be interesting to see if digital can trounce dead tree or if there will be tears before bedtime.